Ethics - How To Live As An Epicurean

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Ethics - General Discussion

In this section we discuss Epicurean Ethics and how to live as an Epicurean in a world where there are no supernatural gods and no life after death.

Threads: 107

Posts: 1.3k

Last Posts: What amount of effort should be put into pursuing pleasure or removing pain?

Cassius June 26, 2025 at 4:22 PM

Is All Desire Painful? How Would Epicurus Answer?

TauPhi June 15, 2025 at 9:23 PM

Pleasure Is The Guide of Life

Threads: 11

Posts: 201

Last Posts: "Pleasure" vs "Pleasant Experiences"

Cassius February 6, 2025 at 2:47 PM

Why isn't "satisfaction" the guide of life?

Julia December 24, 2024 at 10:17 AM

Absence of Pain - By Pleasure We Mean All Experience That Is Not Painful

Threads: 29

Posts: 175

Last Posts: The Absence of Sin

Don April 22, 2025 at 8:03 AM

The "Lacking Nothing Of Their Natural Severity" Reference in the Letter to Idomeneus

Cassius February 9, 2025 at 8:56 PM

Emotion In Epicurean Philosophy

Threads: 0

Posts: 0

"Good" and "Evil" Consist Only in Sensation

Threads: 47

Posts: 306

Last Posts: Venus and Mars - "Good" vs. "Evil"?

Cassius June 23, 2025 at 3:27 PM

A List of Objections To Epicurus From A Modern Christian - Hyde's "From Epicurus To Christ"

Bryan February 1, 2025 at 6:10 PM

Only Two Feelings - Pleasure and Pain - The Term Pleasure Includes Tranquility, Meaningfulness, Katastematic, Kinetic, Etc.

The Term Pleasure Includes Bodily as well as Mental Pleasures Such As Tranquility, Meaningfulness, Katastematic, Kinetic, Etc. Likewise The Term Pain Includes All Bodily and Mental Pains.

Threads: 36

Posts: 673

Last Posts: Confusion: "The feelings are only two"

Rolf May 28, 2025 at 1:09 PM

The “Absence of Pain” Problem

Al-Hakiim von Grof April 29, 2025 at 9:41 PM

Pain Is Manageable - It Is Short If Intense, Endurable If Long, And Terminable By Death

Threads: 2

Posts: 27

Last Posts: Does The Wise Man Groan and Cry Out When On The Rack / Under Torture / In Extreme Pain?

Cassius July 1, 2025 at 8:50 AM

What is terrible is easy to endure

Kalosyni October 18, 2024 at 9:11 AM

Life Is Desirable, But Unlimited Time Contains No Greater Pleasure Than Limited Time

Threads: 6

Posts: 30

Last Posts: David Sedley's "Epicurean vs Cyreniac Happiness"

Cassius February 26, 2025 at 3:29 PM

Key CItations - The Limit of Quantity of Pleasure Is Reached When All Pain Is Eliminated

Cassius October 4, 2023 at 12:20 PM

Happiness and its Relationship to Pleasure

Threads: 6

Posts: 71

Last Posts: Epicurean Philosophy In Relation To Gulags and the Rack

Pacatus April 30, 2025 at 1:46 PM

Is the Epicurean Always Happy?

Little Rocker June 3, 2024 at 5:27 PM

Virtue (A Means for Pleasure, Not an End in Itself)

Threads: 16

Posts: 48

Last Posts: What is Virtue and what aspects of Virtue does an Epicurean cultivate?

Kalosyni March 13, 2025 at 10:19 AM

Key Citations On Confidence

Don March 13, 2024 at 10:41 PM

Justice (Including Security And Social Structures)

Threads: 30

Posts: 289

Last Posts: Toward A Better Understanding of Epicurean Justice And Injustice (With Examples of "Just" and "Unjust")

Pacatus November 20, 2024 at 4:35 PM

Justice & Corruption

Pacatus November 14, 2024 at 4:23 PM

Friendship

Threads: 16

Posts: 129

Last Posts: Friendship discussion (moved from 20th conversation)

Pacatus April 29, 2025 at 6:02 PM

Gleaning Information About Epicurean Friendship From Cicero's "On Friendship"

Cassius February 2, 2025 at 7:21 AM

Gratitude

Threads: 3

Posts: 4

Last Posts: Positive psychology article of the science of gratitude

Don November 27, 2024 at 8:27 PM

Key Citations On Gratitude

Cassius October 4, 2023 at 11:41 AM

To Live Unknown or To Engage With Society

Threads: 12

Posts: 77

Last Posts: Articles concerning Epicurus and political involvement

sanantoniogarden July 1, 2025 at 2:29 PM

What "Live Unknown" means to me (Lathe Biosas)

TauPhi July 14, 2024 at 12:38 PM

Choice And Avoidance ("Natural And Necessary"; "Natural and Unnecessary", Etc.)

VS 63 and why we do not pursue only "necessary" desires.

Threads: 9

Posts: 213

Last Posts: Why pursue unnecessary desires?

Joshua May 8, 2025 at 12:17 AM

The Importance Of The Perfect Not Being Allowed To Be The Enemy of The Good

Bryan May 2, 2025 at 11:44 AM

The Tetrapharmakon

Threads: 5

Posts: 119

Last Posts: Diving Deep Into The History of The Tetrapharmakon / Tetrapharmakos

Cassius May 14, 2025 at 1:19 PM

P.Herc. 1005 from Les Epicuriens (A First Draft Translation)

Bryan May 1, 2025 at 8:36 PM

Epicurean Lifestyle General Discussion

For discussion of daily life as an Epicurean which do not fit into any of the pre-set categories in Epicurean Lifestyle.

Threads: 57

Posts: 518

Last Posts: Superstition and Friday the 13th

Eikadistes June 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM

Adage: In A Crisis, We Don't Rise To The Occasion As Much As We Fall To Our Level of Practice

Cassius June 10, 2025 at 7:24 PM

Practical Exercises In Applied Epicurean Philosophy

Threads: 22

Posts: 179

Last Posts: Let's explore and reclaim pleasure

Bryan January 25, 2025 at 1:21 PM

Guide to resuming / sustaining activity after being frozen / stuck

Root304 November 9, 2024 at 5:30 AM

Am I An Epicurean?

This is one of the questions we get asked most frequently. If you're curious about this, post your own thread here!

Threads: 11

Posts: 100

Last Posts: What Makes Someone "An Epicurean?"

Eikadistes May 19, 2025 at 1:06 PM

Question from Dusty The Donkey

Bryan May 17, 2024 at 8:57 PM

Answering the "Quest For Meaning" In Epicurean Terms

Threads: 5

Posts: 67

Last Posts: The "meaning crisis" trend. How do you answer it as an Epicurean philosopher?

Patrikios September 28, 2024 at 5:46 PM

Meaning and Satisfaction for Epicureans

Godfrey August 23, 2024 at 8:21 PM

Emotions: Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Et Al.

Threads: 22

Posts: 115

Last Posts: Special Emphasis On "Emotions" In Lucretius Today Podcast / Tusculan Disputations - Should Everyone Aspire To Emulate Mr. Spock?

Cassius June 29, 2025 at 3:39 PM

BASIC-ph Model of Coping

Kalosyni April 23, 2025 at 6:57 PM

Dealing With Death, Dying, And Old Age

Threads: 17

Posts: 158

Last Posts: Did Epicurus Commit Suicide Due To His Disease? (Merger of Two Threads On When Voluntary Death Makes Sense)

Don May 2, 2025 at 6:07 AM

Should we Feel Pity for someone Dying Young? 'The Human Predicament' by David Benatar

Pacatus November 5, 2023 at 10:50 AM

Stress, Time Management, and Personal Productivity

Threads: 7

Posts: 23

Last Posts: Minimalism to remove stress caused by too much stuff

Joshua May 23, 2025 at 3:23 PM

Box Breathing and Prolepsis

kochiekoch December 2, 2024 at 9:32 AM

Romantic Love, Relationships, and Marriage

Threads: 24

Posts: 195

Last Posts: An Epicurean Understanding of Valentine's Day: Love, Romance, and Free-will

Kalosyni February 13, 2025 at 8:28 AM

Article "Asexuality and Epicureanism" by Max DuBoff on blog of the American Philosophical Association

Martin December 20, 2024 at 8:30 PM

Health And Diet

Threads: 17

Posts: 149

Last Posts: Highly Palatable Foods and Over-eating

Kalosyni April 24, 2025 at 11:12 AM

Health Benefits of Dancing

Kalosyni April 7, 2025 at 6:37 PM

Daily Interactions With The Non-Epicurean World

Post here your everyday casual comments and frustrations on dealing with a non-Epicurean world. Here you can "blow off steam" about the craziness of religious attitudes (how "everything" is god's will," no matter how ridiculous; how people who die are happy in heaven - so why don't we all commit suicide?) or other common viewpoints (procrastination, "keeping up with the Jones's," etc) that conflict with Epicurean views. But please - remember the "Not Neo-Epicurean" rules, and don't veer off into "politics."

Threads: 9

Posts: 106

Last Posts: Social Media Considered Anti-Epicurean: 101 Reasons Why

Julia January 23, 2025 at 4:10 PM

Unfortunate Use of Bust of Epicurus

Cassius September 16, 2024 at 2:18 PM

Self-Sufficiency - Including Gardening / Farming / Agriculture

Threads: 4

Posts: 60

Last Posts: Interesting website that connects people to work-stay vacations - farms

sanantoniogarden July 1, 2025 at 5:10 PM

Dealing With Electric Grid Disruption

Julia May 13, 2024 at 4:22 AM

Material Goods and Money Management

Threads: 3

Posts: 32

Last Posts: Natural Wealth and Natural Goods in Epicureanism

Don August 14, 2022 at 9:04 AM

Philodemus' "On Property Management"

Cassius July 21, 2022 at 11:56 AM

Articulating an Epicurean Worldview

Threads: 1

Posts: 43

Last Posts: Epicurean Worldview, Personal Identity, and Creating Community

Titus January 22, 2022 at 8:11 AM

Parenting and Childhood Education

No! Epicurus was not uneducated: the real philistines are those who ask us to go on studying till old age the subjects that we ought to be ashamed not to have learned as children.

Threads: 2

Posts: 3

Last Posts: Recreate an Ancient Scroll - For kids (and crafters)

Kalosyni October 21, 2023 at 11:39 AM

Epicurean Philosophy for Parents

Cassius February 22, 2021 at 9:14 AM

Remembering The Past

Threads: 1

Posts: 5

Last Posts: The Art of Remembering

Don March 31, 2024 at 8:57 PM

Living In The Present

Threads: 1

Posts: 1

Last Posts: Key Citations On Living In The Present

Cassius October 4, 2023 at 12:15 PM

Hope For The Future

Threads: 2

Posts: 14

Last Posts: An Anti-Epicurean Article - "The Meaning of Life Is Not Happiness" (For Future Reference)

Pacatus November 19, 2024 at 12:17 PM

Key Citations On Hope

Cassius October 4, 2023 at 12:14 PM

Unread Threads

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  June 30, 2025 at 8:54 AM
2. The Religion of Nature - as supported by Lucretius' De Rerum Natura 4
  - 1
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  - June 12, 2025 at 12:03 PM
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  - June 23, 2025 at 12:36 AM
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  - Epicurus vs Abraham (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
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  1.5k
2. New Translation of Epicurus' Works 1
  - 2
  - Eikadistes
  - June 16, 2025 at 3:50 PM
  - Uncategorized Discussion (General)
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4. Cassius
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Unread Threads

Best Lucretius translation? 12

Philodemus' "On Anger" - General - Texts and Resources 19

The Religion of Nature - as supported by Lucretius' De Rerum Natura 4

New Translation of Epicurus' Works 1